I’m hoping my ears will explode. From awesome, of course. (From now we’ll go by Exit Trance anime Trance ___ for the title. Previously it was Code Speed. Technically correct I think.)

motto☆Hade ni ne! (Kannagi)
If I didn’t know CAMRY was the vocalist, I wouldn’t have guessed. Really. It sounds super different. Bah. That doesn’t matter at all though. This was just awesome. It sounded different from the original but in a good way. Maybe I haven’t listened to the full version enough. Personally, despite my love of Camry, I think someone else might have been better suited for this song. Tomatsu just has a great voice though.

Pre-Parade (Toradora)
This was one of the tracks I was looking forward to. I’ve heard alot of great Pre-Parade remixes and this one is just good. If I heard it on it’s own I would say good. Of course people might expect me to be biased towards ET’s remixes because I’m such a fan but no, this is just good. The vocals, like track one, don’t live up anywhere near the original (I never thought I’d say that about a Rie Kugimiya song).

Resonance (Soul Eater)
Honestly, it was as if they read my list of most wanted track and delivered fully and completly. My list has changed (Brave Your Truth, Kiseki and Hanaji please?) but my old favourites are still loved and still appreciated here. And they’re all here. The begining of this one caught me offf guard for not sounding like the original. More signs that Exit Trance is improving and trying to keep their remixes as original as possible (as original as you can keep a remix cover). But man, when he started singing my jaw dropped. How awesome, I thought. Then it continued to get better. Not only sounding like the original in the way that the vocals were what made the original song with how they were song but by keeping up that originality I mentioned earlier. Compare this album to the first or second. You’ll notice a big difference. I don’t recal many YUKI songs but I’ll be watching now. Honestly, I couldn’t gush about this song more if I tried. From the awesome music itself with it’s badassery and actual trancecore (ishness) to the awesome vocals.

Ame ga Furu (Linebarrels of Iron)
I’m not very famillar with this song but it didn’t stop me from enjoying it. Again, I feel the producers working hard to keep the song from sounding like a slightly trance version of the original and turn it into something new. Because I don’t know this song it’s hard to give an impression on the vocalist. Some of the lyrics sound famillar so it might be a song I’ve heard before. The chorus is certainly catchy enough. Although, it doesn’t seem like the type of song you’d remix like this. Oh well, it was awesome so why complain?

Beautiful Fighter (Shikabane Hime)
It goes without saying that this does the same as others with going for a whole new route. It sounds very, very trancecore (although I’ve only ever seen a small line between that and trance, if there is a real difference). However, how it is presented in the chorus sort of gives on the impression like track four that it isn’t a song that should be remixed in such a way. I am famillar with this song and will compliment YURiE who sounds diffferent as CAMRY did. This is afitting change though as her voice works wonders for this song. It just isn’t one of my favourites.

My Wings (Zettai Karen Children)
I knew what sort of song to expect being from ZKC and I’ve briefly heard this one before. The intro/lead up is a little overdone and it might take that goal of becoming more original and better in thier remixing too far. The back up ish vocals save this song for me though and the parts inbetween where they sing are what are truly impressive. When has Exit Trance succeeded in this series with making the actual music the attraction? Truthfully, the karoke album did little for me.

PSI-Missing (To Aru Majutsu no Index)
At first I was dissapointed. The first let down was one of my favourites. One of the ones I was looking forward to. While the vocals are so enthused (sarcasm? yes, yes it was) the nice insertion of series refrences (can it be called that?) are a nice touch. Unfortunatly, the overall song is lacking in emotion or thrill. Maybe Masterpeice will turn out better. Hopefully.

Pray (Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS)
Gosh, I had the source mixed up. How did this slip me? I totally forgot about Nanoha and where this was from. Ara, well. Pray is too ambigous a title, right? I don’t care about anything Mizuki Nana sounding I can’t say much about this. Well, it isn’t too outstanding on it’s own.

Lillium (Elfen Lied)
I thought this was remixed already but it wasn’t so whatever. I’m kinda glad it wasn’t. Earlier stuff was crap, amiright? Anyways the vocals are ncie. You might almost think they were the original. Now, you’d also think this would fit into my category of songs that shouldn’t have been remixed but were. And no, it does not. For it rains down a ballad of amazement. Infact she sings for about a minute and the rest is just greatly arranged music.

Vanilla Salt (Toradora)
Oh so it really was two Toradora tracks. Hmmm. You think they would have palyed it out like Macross Frontier. although, they did two MFf tracks on one album once, right? Well the vocals on this are what are really nic. not quite Hocchan but still sounding pretty close. Pretty great too. Oman, I should go watch Toradora. The music itself isn’t special but still above par.

Catch You Catch Me (Cardcaptor Sakura)
That ‘stray from the original’ was cool at first. But the intros to the songs get pretty annoying. Unlike track ten, the music is better than the vocals in this one. But the vocals sound pretty close to the original. I think we can expect some more older song remixes for some reason on the future releases. Since this one was pretty good, I think we can look forward to that.

Yakusoku no Bajou e (Kaleido Star)
I’m not really famillar with the original but it sounds pretty catchy. Atleast they started with vocals at the begining again. That was a nice change atleast. Music sounds generic again. Not bad, just not special.

Ninjin loves you yeah! (Macross Frontier)
This song was reccomended to me so I had high expectations for it. since MF music has grown on me, I hope they will play the MF thing out some more. This isn’t one of the highlights of Exit Trance’s MF songs andI’ve heard much better ones from people you’ve never heard of. But this song is a highlight after track 12 and back.

Candy☆Pop☆Sweet☆Heart (Hime-sama Goyojin)
Cutesy CAMRY returns from track twelve and one. But it fits better here. I am a fan of the original (and the show for that matter). I was very surprised to see this song listed but I’m happy they did it. The unexpected choices produce nice results, right?

Otome wa Do My Best desho? (Mai Otome)
A real, real treat, right? The itnro is actually awesome rather than redudant on this one. The burst of vocals, like resonance, fit greatly too. I didn’t have hopes for this song but it came through as a real hit. I hadn’t expected it to better than PSI-Missing. Some of the kiddish sound effects do annoy me. The vocals are class Ma15 but don’t apply here. Atleast, that’s my opinion. Some parts sound great with her. Some… not so much.

Hayate no Gotoku! (Hayate no Gotoku!)
I haet HnG but I love the original of this song. MAKI does a good job on vocals. Living up to Kotoko? Maybe. Maybe. The music is pretty badass too. Although the vocals and the music work against each other and it’s hard to focus. Perhaps if they were more harmonized?

World End (Code Geass S2)
This was another one I was looking forward to (although track twenty is more exciting to wait for than this one). 02 was more entertaining but I like World End better originally. The chorus sounds really good atleast. The background music is nice but hardly worth mentioning. If I listen more it might catch my ear because there’s something about it that sounds better than most here.

Honoo no Tobira (Gundam Seed Destiny)
This track was reccomened to me too. I can see why. The vocals are dramatic and enthralling with the music that knows it’s place, unlike track sixteen. The vocals sounds a little nassaly and hard to understand to me but I still think they sound nice as it is. I’m a little dissapointed this was the only Ryu* track on the whole album. :/

Sora ni Saku (Rental Magica)
I was also surprised this was on here. It took me forever to remember who Lisa Komine was but when it dawned on me I facepalmed for being so silly. I used to be obsessed with this song. The music shines as being mysterious and magical as it should some of the effects are nice too. It’s how PSI-Missing should have been. The vocals are nice too where as Komine’s get,I hate to say it, a little annoying after awhile. But the highlight is the pumped music. Clearly.

Hakanaku mo Towa no Kanashi (Gundam 00)
This was one of the other tracks I was excited about. After that Clannad (have there ever been any KEY remixes in Exit Trance’s Anime Trance series, ever?) MAD I fell in love with this song. The vocals are pretty spot on. The intro drum thing is a little annoying. But it makes up for it with that lacking spirit from earlier on. So I’m glad this song turned out well.

Fang’s Rating: 9/10 (Some songs exceed above and beyond expectations, but some are too flat to let this slide into a ten)

7 Comments

I can tell you have a totally different taste then me by reading this. You look forward to more entertaining-sounding pieces, while I look forward to what would sound better in a progressive hour-long dj mix. xD

klaynne14

March 21, 2009

gahh.. i thought Paradise Lost (from Ga-Rei Zero) was included? (i think you said something about it in the advance info post)
thx for the review.. :D

@S.M: But you’re a master when it comes to this kind of music, so I wouldn’t expect us having the same listening habits. XD

@Klaynne: That early list wasn’t definite, a Hidamari Sketch song was also cut. Maybe it’ll make it to another album? I hope so.

exia

March 22, 2009

Niceee! I enjoyed the hayate gotoku remix and I liked the original very much too. Pretty Good release! I hope they do more recent anime op’s ed more the next release! Id want To aru majutsu OP2 Ed2 and Soul eater Final Ed and maybe a few older op’s. I have a feeling the Op2 and Ed2 of toradora might be on the next one. I wouddnt mind that.

Yes, there were a few older songs here. They could start milking HnG because it has a bunch of songs in it’s series. Index’s 2nd op and 2nd ed would be nice and I think we’ll see Paper Moon or Style before the last ed. But that’s a great song so anything from Soul Eater would be nice.

Lightchild

March 27, 2009

Pre-Parade (Toradora)
“I never thought I’d say that about a Rie Kugimiya song”

Not only Rie Kugimiya, but also Yui Horie and Eri Kitamura. The seiyuus (Rie, Yui and Eri) that made their roles with the three female lead characters (Taiga, Minori and Ami) performs Pre-parade.